Germany considers 50 million euro fines for social media companies that fail to remove hate speech

The German Justice Ministry has introduced a draft law that would impose fines of up to €50 million ($53.2 million) on social media companies that fail to quickly remove hate speech and other illegal content from their platforms. Justice Minister Heiko Maas presented the proposed law at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to the Associated Press, the fines would be imposed whenever Facebook or other web companies do not swiftly remove online threats, hate speech, or slanderous fake news. The ministry is also calling on social media companies to name one person responsible for handling complaints. In cases where companies fail to comply with the regulations, that person could face a fine of up to €5 million, according to the AP.